Collapsible filing cabinet



Jupe 21, 1938. H'. l.. FELLOWES y COLLA-PSIBLE FILING CABINET Filed June 14, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheetl -Jun 21.; 1933- H, l.. FELLowr-:s

I COLLAPSIBLE FILING CABINET Filed June 14, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Zyl;

June 21?, 1938. l l-Yl. l. FELLOWES 2,121,190

COLLAPSIB'LEI FILING CABINET June 151111: E38. H. a.. FELLOES COLLAPSIBLE FILING CABINET Filed June 14', 19:57 4 sheets-sheet 4 ffy g aryl-RZZWQS Patented June 21, 1938 UNITED STATES COLLAPSIBLE FILING CABINET Harry L. Fellowes, ,Chicagm Ill., assgnor to Bankers Box Company, Chicago, Ill., a. corporation of Illinois 4 Claims.

My invention contemplates and provides a novel and advantageous collapsible filing cabinet of the drawer type which'may be fabricated very largely of paperboard and which, when its several parts are in erected assembly, is very strong, easy to manipulate and of neat and sturdy appearance.

By the term ling cabinet, as herein used, is meant one or more stacks of p drawer-holding cases, employed for day-to-day or transfer Illing'.

A salient object of' the present invention is to provide a novel drawer-holding case, in the nature of a collapsible paper board box, which may be erected and heldin stacked relation with similar cases in such manner, and by means such, that no paper board wall of any case is required to sustain the weight of any other case or its contents.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a novel drawer-holding case, in the nature of a collapsible paper board box, which is provided with novel means, some parts of which are permanently attached to the case and other parts of which are detachable accessories, for holding the case against "weaving," i. e., to prevent shifting movements of its walls which will distort its interior right angles.

A further object is to provide novel. simple and effective means for securing together adjacent cases stacked in side bly side relationship.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drawer-holding case having the margins of its drawer receiving opening strengthened, and the opening held against distortion, by a novel arrangement of case-end iiaps. 4

A further object is to provide novel liners for the cases to reduce the sliding-friction of the drawers and reinforce the cases at points of greatest wear.A

A further object is to provide novel stacking racks which are adapted to be connected with and 'lie between contiguous cases in a stack, which adequately support the oors or bottom walls of 45 the several cases, and which may be employed to carry the lowermost case of a stack out of contact with the iloor by which the stack is supported.

Still another object is to provide satisfactory drawers adapted to slide in and out of the cases.

These and other objects and advantages. will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part 55 of this specication, and in which like numerals Application June 14, 1937, Serial No. 148,038

are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. 1 is' a right front perspective view of a illing cabinet according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a case, 5 liner and stacking rack;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view partly broken away of the rear end of one of the erected cases;

Fig. 4 is a right front perspective view of a partly erected case inverted to show the longi- 10 tudinal edges thereof which are secured together by an adhesive tape, in the manufacture of the case;

Fig. 5 is a fractional front elevation, partly broken away, of a multiple stack filing cabinet 15 of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a. sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 1--1 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 8--8 of Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 9-9 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 10 and 11 are sectional views taken in the 25 direction of the arrows along the 'lines I0|0 and I I--H of Fig. 1, respectively;

Fig. 12 is a fractional front view of the lower left front corner of one of the cases showing the drawer in place; Y 80 Fig. 13 is a plan view of a blank from which a satisfactory drawer may be fabricated;

Fig. 14 is a right front perspective view of the drawer blank partially folded;

Fig. 15 is a right front perspective view of the 35 drawer with the bottom liner exploded out of the other parts of the drawer;

Figs. 16 and 17 are sectional views of the drawer'taken in the direction of the arrows valong the lines lli-I6 'and I'l-ll of Fig. 15 respec- 40 tively.

1 Fig. 18 is a plan perspective view of a case cover.

In general, the Illing cabinet consists of any convenient number of paper board illing case units 2li, .each one of which is shipped folded iiat and erected by the user. When erected, these cases may be assembled into stacks which may consist ofseveral verticalrows of cases 20, several tiers high, the whole being bound together into a solid unit by means of stacking racks 22, nuts 24 and screws 2'6. At any time 'more units 20 may be-added to the top or at the' side of any original stack.

When a plurality of cases are in stacked relabf an adhesive cloth strip 35. vided on each of its vertical sides 38 with two v- Fig. 2 and then held by which, in the manufacture of the case, preferably tionship, a metallic skeleton frame 28--8 supports the load in each of the cases from the oor so that no load is carried by any of the paper board side walls 38. The said skeleton framework 28-S is a composite of two or more stacking racks 22 and the hereinafter described side wall stiles of the cases assembled with such stacking racks.

Each of the individual cases 28 consists of a rectangular paper board carton 32 of well known design in the manufacture of which a blank is cut and scored on a die and then folded and secured along its longitudinal edges '84 by means This caseY is prostiles 38 and 48 which have a length equal to the height of the side walls 38. Each of these stiles 38 and l48, which are identical, consists of a metal channel strip 42 that is folded longitudinally back upon itself twice on each side of itscenter line, thereby providing two plane surfaces 44 with a substantially rectangular channel 45 between them. The channel 45 thus Aformed is covered for a short distance at each of its ends by a flat plate 48 spotwelded to the channel strip 42. The stiles 38 are secured as close as is practical to the front opening 58 of the case 28 by means of rivets 52 passing through the paper board, while the other stiles 48 are similarly secured somewhat in from the rear end 54 of the case. Therivets 52 may be provided with washers 55 to resist the tendency of'their heads to pull through the paper board.

The center of each of the stiles is provided with a slotted hole 58 which may be .used in securing together adjacent 'cases in the same horizontal -plane in a manner to be described. Behind each 58 the container wall 38 give access to the insides of these slotted holes is lout away as at 58 to of the stiles 38 and 48.

The above described When received by the user, it is opened and the four rear flaps 52 turned to the position shown in a gummed cloth strip 54 hasone end secured to one of the side walls 38. When the case is erected such strip 54 is adhesively applied to the outer ones of aps 52 and the other side wall 38. 'Ihe lower front flap 55 is then folded in and secured by a liner 58. The liner consists of a flat piece of paper board that is scored twice lengthwise, so that when folded along the scores it becomes a U-shaped vmember that fits inside the container 28 thus serving to protect the container from the wear produced by a sliding drawer -18. The horizontal portion of this liner has twoembossed tracks 12 on which the drawer 18 slides. The front portions of the lower corners of the liner are notched at 14, along the score lines, rearwardly for`l distances slightly greater than the horizontal dimensions of the front side flaps 18.

After the front lower -flap 55 has been folded inwardly and the liner 88 pushed into place, the two side naps are then folded in over the liner 58, in which positions vtheir lower edges 18 will be caught in the notches 14. The top ap 88 is then similarly folded to place inside the case.N It will be seen that the side flaps 18 retain the liner 88 against outward movement.

The inner ply of the card board, of which the liner 58 is formed. is preferably a sheet of paraffin paper. However, if theliner is formed of conventional card board its inner surfaces are smeared or coated with paraffin. The' presence y 'case 28 is shipped iiat.l

' neath the cases 28, and from there to the stiles of the paraffin, in either case insures that the opposed rubbing surfaces of the drawer and liner quickly become polished and slide very easily on and with respect to each other.

The cases 28 are secured in vertical ystacks by 5 means of the hereinbefore mentioned stacking racks 22. 'These racks, which may be constructed of strips 82 of machine steel welded together, are as wide as the container 28 and as long as the distance between the front and rear stiles 38 and 48. The stacking racks are braced against distortion by corner strips 84. The front and rear members of each rack 22 are continued beyond the corner welds and bent upwardly at right angles, thereby providing four upwardly projecting fingers 85 which may be slid into the openings 45 in the ends of the stiles 38 and 48 of an erected case. The lower surface of the frame 22 has welded thereto at its corners four L-shaped pieces 88 which provide downwardly extending ngers 98 similar to the fingers 86.

When stacking the cases, rubber cushions 92 are slipped over the downwardly projecting fingers 98 of a frame 22, and the frame placed on the floor. Then the lower ends of the stiles 38 and 48 of a container 28 are slipped over the upwardly projecting fingers 85 `of the frame 22. Then the downwardly projecting fingers 88 of a second frame are slid into the openings 45 at the tops of, the stiles 38 and 48, and so on until the stack has reached the desired height.

To strengthen the uppermost case in a stack, a stacking rack 22, either with or without the upwardlyprojecting fingers 85, may be secured in place with its ngers 98 engaging the upper openings of-the'case stiles 38 and 48. However, a better appearance is given to the stack and a smooth writing or working surface is provided, if the top most case is strengthened by means of a sheet metal cover plate 83 having depending fingers 98 which engage the stiles 38 and 48. These fingers 88 can either be formed as shown in Fig. 18 by bending down edge portions of the plate 93, or they may be separate angle pieces welded to the plate 93 in the same manner that the pieces 88 are welded to the racks 22.

Although I have illustrated and described the stiles 38 and 48 as providing the female members, and the fingers 88 as being the male members in the interlocking mechanism, it readily will be understood by anyone skilled in the art that the stiles may be solid and the fingers hollow and fitted thereto, without departing from this invention.

If desired a second stack maybe built alongside the first and horizontally adjacent cases secured together by means of nuts 24 and screws 28 passed through the slots 58 in the stiles 38 and 48 before the liners 58 are put in place. Since, when more than one stack is built the adjacent rubber cushions 82 at the bottom of the several stacks may interfere with each other, I prefer to use one rubber cushion 92 to enclose each set of two adjacent fingers 98 asshown in Fig. ll. It will be seen that filing cabinets when constructed in accordance with this invention will be very strong and rigid even though built largely of paper board sections, and that the weight in each drawer 18 will be transferred to the steel frames 22 be- 38 and 48 which carry the load to the floor without reliance on the strength of the paperboard walls 38 of the cases loweadown in the stack.

The drawers 18 to be used vin'` connection with the above described cases may be' of the construc- 75 tion shown in Figs. 13 to 17, inclusive. Such drawer is made from paper board and has a double thickness bottom and side walls and four thicknesses in the front and rear panels.

. This drawer consists of a iiat sheet 94 scored and cut to form a rectangular bottom 96 in the center of the blank with end walls 98 and end wall extensions |00 at either end, and side walls |02 and side wall extensions |04 at either side of the bottom section 96. The side walls |02 and side wall extensions |04 are provided with outwardly extending flaps |06 at their ends, so that when the side walls |02 are folded into a vertical position with the side wall extensions |04 folded down inside the drawer 10, the ilaps |06 may be folded across the ends of the drawer and enclosed between the end walls 98 and the end wall extensions |00, which are folded in a manner similar to the side Walls |02. In this position eight holes |08 in the side flaps are brought into alignment with eight holes ||0 in the end flaps and the drawer 'l0 secured in erected position by means of nuts ||2 and screws I4 passed through these holes |08 and ||0. The screws 4 passing through the front wall are provided with washers ||6 under their heads and serve to secure a handle I|8 to the irontofthe drawer '|0 as well as to hold the drawer in erected position. To strengthen the bottom of the drawer 10, I prefer to add to the above a rectangular piece of paper board |20 cut to proper size which is inserted into the drawer and pressed against the bottom 96. This false bottom |20 also serves to press the side wall extensions |04 tightly against the side walls |02 and thereby provides a square corner between the bottom of the drawer and the side walls.

Althnough I have described a preferred embodi ment of my invention, it should be understood that I contemplate that departures may be made therefrom, and that the scope of my invention is to be limited solely by the following claims.

I claim: Y

1. In a ling cabinet, a stack of drawer-receiving cases, each case comprising a collapsible paper board receptacle having top, bottom and side walls, a plurality of vertically-disposed stiles mounted on and secured to the outer surfaces of the side walls of each cas'efand racks disposed between contiguous cases of the stack, each rack comprising a horizontal frame adapted to underlie and support the bottom wall of a case directly above it, each such frame being provided with members arranged to have detachable loadtransmitting connection with the stiles of the cases above and below it, said racks and said stiles constituting a composite skeletonframe in and on which each case is so supported that its load is transmitted through the stiles of the underlying cases and the load-transmitting connections to the oor.

2. A file drawer case comprising in combination, a paper board container provided at its drawer entrance with a bottom ap and side iiaps, a U-shaped liner for the container, the liner serving to hold said bottom ap in place against the floor of the container, said side ilaps serving to prevent movement of the liner outwardly through the drawer entrance, and longitudinal ridges upwardly embossed from the floor of the liner to aid sliding movements of a drawer in said case.

3. A filing cabinet comprising a plurality of collapsible paper board drawer cases arranged in a vertical stack, each of said cases having bottom, top and side walls, a pair of spaced-apart hollow vertically disposed metallic stiles secured to the outer surface of each side wall of each case and not extending either above or below such side wall, all of said stiles being adapted to become detachably associated with the hereinafter described racks to constitute a self-susjecting ngers which enter the lower ends of the stiles of such lowermost case, each of the other racks having its corners in load-receiving relation to the lower ends ofthe stiles of the case immediately above and in load-transmitting relation to the upper ends of the stiles of the case immediately below, each of such last mentioned racks being provided at its corners with upwardly land downwardly extending fingers projectingl into adjacent vertically aligned hollow stiles,

4. A filing cabinet comprising a plurality of collapsible paper board drawer cases arranged in a vertical stack, each of said cases having bottom, top and side walls, a pair of spaced-apart vertically disposed metallic stiles secured to the outer surface of each side wall of each case, all of said stiles being adapted to become associated with the hereinafter described racks to constitute a self-sustaining composite skeleton frame, and a plurality of horizontally disposed rectangular racks, each rack lying immediately under .one of the cases of the stack, the rack which lies immediately under the lowermost case having its corners in load-receiving relation to the stiles of such lowermost case and being provided, at such corners, with means for detachable connection with the lower ends of the stiles of such lowermost case, each of the other racks having its corners in load-receiving relation to the lower ends of the stiles of the case immediately above and in load-transmitting relation to the upper ends o1 the stiles of the case immediately below, each of such last mentioned racks being provided at its corners with means for detachable connection with contiguous stiles. 

